{"id":5044,"date":"2022-05-23T08:59:56","date_gmt":"2022-05-23T08:59:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kildare.ie\/ehistory\/?p=5044"},"modified":"2025-10-29T17:06:27","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T17:06:27","slug":"16-may-1922-recollections-of-ms-ester-may","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/16-may-1922-recollections-of-ms-ester-may\/","title":{"rendered":"16 MAY 1922. RECOLLECTIONS OF MS. ESTER MAY"},"content":{"rendered":"

Centenary of Curragh Handover<\/strong><\/p>\n

Recollections of Ms. Ester May<\/strong><\/p>\n

My recollection of \u201ctakeover\u201d day on the Curragh are somewhat hazy after a lapse of 75 years, but the following details are the details of how I became involved.<\/p>\n

Prior to that day I had worked for Piaras Beaslai in an office located at 14, North Great George\u2019s St. Dublin. It was really a tenement room furnished with two chairs, one table and a typewriter \u2013 we did have a fire in the room to warm us.<\/p>\n

When Mr. Beaslai travelled to America on business for Ireland, I did quite a lot of typing for Colonel Ginger O\u2019Connell, at Mr Beaslai\u2019s request. Then Colonel O\u2019Connell requested me to go to work in the Curragh. As I decided whether to go my mother agreed to let me work there in the condition that Colonel O\u2019Connell would \u201chave to mind me!\u201d I travelled to and from home and the Curragh by rail from Kildare Station. It was lonely for me working there as there was no other female clerical staff except myself. There were nurses working in the hospital bur there was little contact with them. Besides, I was somewhat shy and only about 19 years old at the time, but everyone there was pleasant, and they all treated me well.<\/p>\n

My actual memories of the day are somewhat dim now. I recall that Colonel O\u2019Connell decided that it would be safer for me to watch the events from a window as there was a large crowd of men present. I remember seeing the flag being hoisted and the excitement when it was raised is vivid in my memory.<\/p>\n

A number of the \u201cboys\u201d under Mr. Oscar Traynor, then O\/C of the Dublin Brigade, attended. Among them was Emmet Dalton and a man named Maurice Brennan who owned a Gents\u2019 Outfitters Shop in O\u2019Connell Street, Dublin.<\/p>\n

There were also two American soldiers there with the Brigade. I had already met these two gentlemen in the course of my work for Colonel O\u2019Connell and Piaras Beaslai. One of the soldiers was named Pat Cronin and the other was a Major (I think his name was J. Gulkee). The head of the Garda Siochana attended that day and he and I were entertained to a beautiful meal where we were waited on by Irish orderlies.<\/p>\n

I did not appear in any photographs of the day, but sometime later Colonel Ginger O\u2019Connell\u2019s two daughters loaned the flag to hang it on the seat where I sat to have a photograph taken. I thought it was a beautiful flag, but Colonel O\u2019Connell\u2019s daughters told me that some people cut pieces from it \u2013 for souvenirs I presume.<\/p>\n

My stay at the Curragh was short \u2013 about a month or so. I remember Colonel O\u2019Connell being arrested walking down the quays in Dublin right at the Four Courts. I got a transfer back to Portobello Barracks in Dublin, and I worked for periods at both Beggar\u2019s Bush and at Headquarters in Infirmary Road where I left to marry. I was presented with a silver chain bag of souvenirs which I still possess \u2013 the bag I mean \u2013 the souvenirs long since spent. Another gift I received was a watch which they gave me as a Christmas gift.<\/p>\n

Taken from 90th anniversary Curragh Camp handover commemorative booklet<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Centenary of Curragh Handover Recollections of Ms. Ester May My recollection of \u201ctakeover\u201d day on the Curragh are somewhat hazy after a lapse of 75 years, but the following details are the details of how I became involved. Prior to that day I had worked for Piaras Beaslai in an office located at 14, North […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-decade-of-centenaries"],"blocksy_meta":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Kildare Local Studies","author_link":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/author\/localstudies\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5044"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8067,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5044\/revisions\/8067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}